Arenado offers measured take on pay cuts: 'We negotiated a deal'

Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado wants to play baseball, but he also wants fans to understand the players' frustrations with proposed revenue sharing.

"We negotiated a deal," Arenado told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. "Now let's go play. Let's get to work. That's where we as players are coming from. Obviously, there are (discussions) about revenue (sharing) and changing it up a bit. But we already discussed that. Let's get to work now."

The league, owners, and MLBPA agreed in March to a pay structure under which players receive prorated salaries based on their current contracts. This means their pay would be adjusted depending on how many games are eventually played.

Owners have said the absence of fans at games will result in significant financial losses, making the prorated agreement unfeasible. This has prompted players like Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Blake Snell to voice criticism of the plan.

Arenado praised Snell's honesty, and though he agrees with many things the pitcher said, he also acknowledged that fans aren't necessarily going to see things the same way.

"A lot of it gets misperceived. Trying to get the public to understand us, it's not going to work very well in our favor," Arenado said. "We're baseball players, right? We make great money. Regardless if we don't make the money we want, we're still making great money. A lot of people in this world are struggling a lot harder than us. Some people might see him as a complainer. Some people might agree with his views. At the end of the day, he made some points I agree with. But he also made some points where it's just going to be too hard to get everyone on our side."

Cincinnati Reds right-hander Trevor Bauer has also been vocal about his opposition to further pay cuts, and he asked on Twitter why fans were seemingly siding with team owners in the matter. Bauer reiterated that players already agreed to a pay cut in the first place.

Arenado said there are misconceptions surrounding the players' perspectives but explained they all want to return to the field as long as the agreement to do so is fair.

"I know some people think, 'They just want to play if they get all their money.' We're not going to get all our money regardless," he said. "We understand we're not going to get paid everything we thought we were getting this year. But we still want to go out there and play and earn our contracts and put on a show for the fans. It's important for us to play, important for free agency, everything. Players understand that."